Barack around the clock

Obama/Biden actually have an arts plank in their platform pledging an increase in the NEA budget, support for an "Artists Corps" (on the model of the Peace Corps) and tax breaks for practicing artists, among other things.
The arts are not mentioned on the McCain/Palin Website.

Christopher Knight of the L.A. Times has an interesting essay on the debates and arts policy. Highlights: NEA budget now amounts to just 50 cents per American, annually -- about what five _hours_ of the Iraq war costs. And look at the closer: No major world civilization has ever failed to subsidize the arts significantly. Knight is too eager to regard TV and the Internet as instruments of ignorance, but he makes good points about the presidential debates as scripted theater -- or as NASCAR races that we watch just to see other people crash and burn.